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The Future Of The English Language

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By quicksand


TRAVEL INTO A FUTURE TIME

Take a giant leap into the future by whatever means available to you.

A hundred years ahead would be sufficient for the purpose in mind.

You just want to check out what changes the English language would have undergone over this period of time.

You already have a great track record of having campaigned strongly against text messaging on mobile phones and have a great following to back you in your campaigns!

You, are the chosen one! It is your mission!

While you are at it you would also like to check out how much more mankind would have progressed ... or degenerated in other areas. That would of course be discussed in a different hub.

So right now let us stay on the topic described by the header.

Whether you push the button on a time machine or if you have submitted to telekinetic time transfer, it does not matter.

This is a hypothetical scene that will take you forward to a date a hundred years from now.

Assuming you have accessed the first ever time machine and have the opportunity to try it out, you sit on the saddle, fasten your safety belt and you decide to launch an ignition sequence.

What the hell is that? Well, having read Quicksand's hub on The Moon Landing, you picked up the term "Ignition Sequence" to give equal importance to your journey into time as much as Cape Canaveral did to the moon mission.

You know very well that it is only your consciousness that will be travelling in time and so you cannot suffer any physical harm, unlike Jarvis in HG Well's fictitious story, The Time Machine, retold by Quicksand.

You start counting backwards and then blast off when you reach zero!


LIFE AND EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE

You arrive spot on! Exactly 100 years into the future!

The first thing you notice is a copy of a much respected International Newspaper.

The feature story shows a picture of Spiderman, and a few captions that you fail to understand.

You get curious and turn to the page which contains the feature story ... and check it out. "What on earth is this?" You exclaim to yourself ... you are totally bewildered by the text.

View that page yourself ...


No Amazon results found

THE FUTURE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

NEWS ... IN ENGLISH?

The English translation of that would be ...

Weird stunt man with hair long enough to reach his knees scales a 230 floor building, does his stunt and swings down on a thin rope just like Spider-man is capable of doing.

Creates a world record in the process. His stunt attracted the attention of a soft drinks manufacturer who offered him a million dollars to be the brand manager of the product.

This guy has been around for long, and has done many stunts before. The last one he did was six months before this event. He leaped into a bullring in Spain and in the presence of thousands of spectators did many a somersault as the bull charged at him.

Worked up the bull to a frenzy and kept on at it. The female spectators were awe struck. He disappeared for a period of six months and then appears once again to do this Spider-man stunt.


IS IT ONLINE CHAT PROGRAMS OR TEXTING?

Translated into English from what?

Translated from what the English language would probably evolve into, in less than a hundred years time if we don't take the necessary precautions right now.

Technology is the culprit. The very same technology that had us reeling asking for more after the computer became a trend in offices bidding a hasty farewell to typewriters.

The computer made a giant leap when the Internet was made accessible to the public. A parallel situation saw a thing called texting which mobile phones were versatile enough to generate. The shortening of words to save the agony of having to spell out every single word of the message has been accepted. Along with omitting prepositions and conjunctions, and even leaving out vowels from words.


RITA ON ENGLISH

IT'S YOUR COMPUTER AND THE INTERNET

This trend was carried out in chat sites online, and even noticeable was the absence of a space between words after a punctuation mark.

Spell it the way you think fit and as long as it is understood. That's all that matters. That is the opinion of some.

Will this really happen is an important question. Let this prevail in the world of mobile telephones and in chat rooms.

But, in real life, even if this happens, it would, after we are all gone. Should we take up the attitude "who cares?"

Well, I am confident that the print media in every part of the world would resist such a transformation.

How about you?

... concluded

Would you like to discuss your opinion on the threat that technology poses to the English Language?

  • You need not travel into the future, you can see all these happening in the present time.
  • Online chat as well as SMS texting is to take most of the blame.
  • It's true that the computer and the Internet has brought upon many changes, but, life has to change.
  • I dont think this will happen at all. As long as the print media survives, so will the English Language.
  • It will take more than a hundred years, but it will definitely happen. I am sure of it.
  • Wazat man you sed?
See results without voting

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shibashake profile image

shibashake  says:
5 months ago

Hey QS wassup!, A very interesting thought exercise. I think how we chat online definitely affects how we write. Sometimes I find myself really wanting to insert smileys into the articles that I write.

As for txt-speak, my opinion is that it will go away once we develop more sophisticated speech technology. Technology will solve all our problems ;)

Rochelle Frank profile image

Rochelle Frank  says:
5 months ago

Interesting look forward.

If we look back to Shakespeare we may have a bit of trouble in the translation, but can still recognize the beauty of the expression. I think the next century will see a similar change in English. Maybe language is devolving, but whatcha gointa du?

Let's keep the beauty alive a bit longer. I hope people keep communicating on some level, at least.

quicksand profile image

quicksand  says:
5 months ago

Hi Shiba! Dafactiz, diz thingz ahpning aldatim! Translation: The fact is these things are happening all the time!

"Technology will solve all our problems" ... daswatusez (that's what you say) ... but technology will not solve this particular problem. It will remain unsolved and the threat of an invasion will always be there!

Thanks for your dropping by and making a remark. :)

quicksand profile image

quicksand  says:
5 months ago

Greetings Rochelle, During the time of Shakespeare, I guess there was a consistency and writers were focused on grammatical precession, spelling, and were keen on creating colorful ways of expressing themselves.

But in this case, "da aint no rulz" ... there are no rules at all! "but whatcha gointa du?" I dunno! U sujest sumtin!

Thanks a lot for your remarks! :)

The Old Firm profile image

The Old Firm  says:
5 months ago

Quintessentially, - O!sht;-)

quicksand profile image

quicksand  says:
5 months ago

Hi TOF! Thanks for dropping by. :)

Feline Prophet profile image

Feline Prophet  says:
5 months ago

I used to be one of those who conscientiously crossed my t's and dotted my i's even when I was chatting online or texting...I have to sheepishly admit that over time I have dropped the capital letters completely from my chats and the only reason my text messages look like English is because I use the dictionary facility on my phone! Aaaaaargh...I am so ashamed of myself!!!!

quicksand profile image

quicksand  says:
5 months ago

Don't be, Prophet Feline, I you can't lick 'em, join 'em! :lol:

I Appreciate your visit!

BeatsMe profile image

BeatsMe  says:
5 months ago

Well Quicksand, now that you've pointed it out, in the future, maybe correct grammar and spelling won't matter to people anymore. What will matter most are probably the latest technology, and of course, agriculture. Can't ignore that last one if people in the future expect to survive.

I see you've joined the hub challenge. Best of luck. Cheers.

quicksand profile image

quicksand  says:
5 months ago

Hi BeatsMe, there is a threat that this might happen and if it does, those who are affected by it will not even know! LOL! As Rochelle Frank suggests, lets make the most of it right now!

Pity you don't have time to join the hub challenge. I hope I can manage 30 in 30! It's quite interesting too, especially making those logos. So far they've come out well. Thanks for your visit and thanks for leaving a remark! :)

Nancy's Niche profile image

Nancy's Niche  says:
5 months ago

We need to stop acknowledging inadequate grammar; then, the English language will survive. There are threats that are more serious to the English language to be concerned with right now. Good article and very thought provoking…

quicksand profile image

quicksand  says:
5 months ago

Thanks, Nancy, thank you for your visit and your opinion. We all need to do whatever we can to stop the threat of deterioration. I am confident the print media is quite strong here. But, the Internet ... ? :)

someonewhoknows profile image

someonewhoknows  says:
5 months ago

It's been prevon taht if you splel wrods wtih the fisrt ltteer and lsat ltter corerctly you can mix up all of the othre ltters and still unrdtsand the wrods as lnog as you are fiamalr wtih the lnagauge as i demnotsrighted hree

quicksand profile image

quicksand  says:
5 months ago

True enough, I saw this for the first time demonstrated on a website belonging to an Internet marketer by the name of Mike F. He was selling some product and the header was something which needed de-scrambling in order to be understood.

Thank you for your demonstration, Someonewhoknows. Thanks for your visit too! :)

LondonGirl profile image

LondonGirl  says:
5 months ago

A very interesting, and funny, hub. I'm more optimistic than you, though!

quicksand profile image

quicksand  says:
5 months ago

Greetings, LondonGirl!

I wish you long life, but have my doubts that you will be around when this actually happens! If it does not happen in a hundred years, it will, in two hundred years! Optimism will only prevent any action on our part. So join the pessimists and work alongside!

Thanks for checking out this article. Glad you found it funny. Most of my hubs are! Cheers!

GeneralHowitzer profile image

GeneralHowitzer  says:
4 months ago

English being the universal language will inevitably have a good for future, in South Korea many people there now are learning this language. Nice hub and shows your love for English eh nyahahaha.

quicksand profile image

quicksand  says:
4 months ago

Hi General, let's hope the language does not change! Thanks for commenting. :)

prasetio30 profile image

prasetio30  says:
4 months ago

thanks for share. it is great idea. I've so much fun here.

quicksand profile image

quicksand  says:
4 months ago

Greetings, Prasetio, are you going to join the campaign? Thanks for commenting. :)

Karraline profile image

Karraline  says:
3 months ago

It seems to me that, Although there has been a large difference in language [typing, texting, email] the change has been due, not to technology in itself, but to the wide spread of "trend" when it comes to online conversation. It is a responsibility of people as a whole, as well as the individual to keep up on history, literature, language to maintain Language as we've known it yesterday, and as we've known it before. Language is constantly changing, as history has shown; However. I do think that it would be a sad day to see it change in such a dramatic way as we see it rising in "text talk" now.

quicksand profile image

quicksand  says:
3 months ago

Ah, Kerraline, you are able to sense danger here! When there is no protest, it is almost like accepting it. Although the danger is real, I guess as long as the print media is firm, this will take longer to happen. But it eventually will. Sad!

Thanks for visiting my hub and thanks for your valuable opinion. :)

Karraline profile image

Karraline  says:
3 months ago

it eventually will...if people don't be cool and stop talking that way ;) I think maybe there really could be a way out of it!

quicksand profile image

quicksand  says:
3 months ago

There is, Karraline. There really is! Wanna know? :)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

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